Today's modern integrated circuit technology has resulted in many different types and kinds of mounting techniques for connecting an integrated circuit device or integrated circuit to a printed circuit board.
For examples of various different types and kinds of integrated mounting arrangements and techniques are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos: 3,825,999; 4,674,007 and 4,859,190.
In general, surface mount integrated circuit devices can be either mounted directly to a printed circuit board by a conventional soldering technique, or integrated within a pin grid array (PGA) for "through hole" removable mounting purposes, or the PGA can even be surface mounted.
Such pin grid array devices include a plurality of closely spaced apart through hole mounting pins for enabling a centrally disposed, integrally formed integrated circuit to be adapted for through hole mounting or surface mounting.
The pin grid array devices are relatively expensive to manufacture, and thus the cost to the ultimate consumer may be excessive for some applications. On the other hand, surface-mount integrated circuit devices, such as gull wing packages, are oftentimes relatively less expensive to manufacture, even though the integrated circuitry embedded within the semiconductor die may be substantially identical to the circuitry embedded within a corresponding pin grid array integrated circuit device.
Therefore, it would be highly desirable to be able to convert a lower priced surface-mount device into a higher priced pin grid array device. The resulting converted pin grid array device could then be sold as a replacement device to be used in place of conventional pin grid array devices, since the two devices would be functionally substantially identical to one another.
However, there is a problem in converting surface-mount devices to pin grid array devices. In this regard, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to connect physically and electrically the finely spaced surface-mount leads to a set of pins arranged in a standard pin grid array for a given integrated circuit. The pin arrangement for a given application is fixed, and has a different spacing and layout from the fine spacing of the surface-mount leads. Thus, it would often be impossible or at least extremely difficult to superimpose the surface-mount leads of a given integrated circuit into a position adjacent to a set of pins arranged according to a desired pin grid array arrangement, without contacting at least some of the pins. In other words, in order to accomplish the conversion, it would be necessary for all of the surface-mount leads to be positioned without touching them, so that conductors can be used to interconnect the leads with corresponding individual ones of the pins.
The lead footprints of a conventional surface-mount integrated circuit are so closely spaced that a multiple number could contact a single pin or its annular pad of conductive material. Moreover, even if it were somehow possible to avoid contacting the pin, the other surface-mount leads or other sides of the integrated circuit would still make unwanted one or more connections with a single pin.
Therefore, it would be highly desirable to have a new and improved method and assembly for enabling a conventional surface-mount technology integrated circuit to be converted to a given desired pin gird array device in a cost effective and efficient manner.